Tuesday Tales 2023-12-26 End

Continued blessings to you and good health and prosperity in the New Year! Cherish your time with family and friends. Welcome to Tuesday Tales, powered by a small group of authors, where word prompts inspire passages in the books we’re writing. Today’s prompt is end. My snippet is from a cozy mystery set in fictional Glisten, Georgia. When you finish reading, make sure to visit all the talented authors of Tuesday Tales.

“Were you surprised by the murder?”

He stared. “Of course. Even when a person’s behavior antagonizes people, you don’t expect it to end in murder.”

“She antagonized people?” I thought of what Luella had told me.

“It was hot or cold with her, and sometimes hot turned to cold. Soft and pretty as she was on the outside, there was something hard inside.”

“You knew her well?”

“I wouldn’t say that. We went out two or three times, when she was still working for Tolliver Senior. Why are you so interested anyway?”

“I found her body. I-I feel a certain responsibility.”

He studied me for a moment. “You need to get over that.”

“Indulge me, will you?”

He took a long swallow of beer and wiped his lip with the back of his hand. “She was a person who knew what she wanted and was willing to go after it. Nothing wrong with ambition, of course, but when you use people and dig into their secrets, you are bound to get on their bad side.”

Had she discovered a secret of his, and was he talking about her digging, or me? I prodded on. “Whose bad side did she get on?”

He shrugged. “Maybe you should ask some of the ladies. When you’re secretive, you’re sly enough to cover it. But some things are obvious. She always had boyfriend issues. This one, then that one. A while back she got Monroe tied around her little finger, hot and heavy let me tell you, and then—poof—something made him skid. I know him. He’s not the type to ignore a gift horse, so something made him back off. You saw what happened the other day at the tea shop. How he acted. Naturally he can be an ass sometimes.”

“I see what you mean by skidded. He escorted her to the party and then dumped her.”

“No, I’m talking about before. I was actually surprised that he walked her there. And yes, dumping was the appearance given that day. But I wonder…”

“What?”

“If maybe I’m wrong. If maybe that’s what they wanted us to think. A subterfuge of some sort.”

“You mean an act? It seems farfetched. She was spitting nails. Was she that good of an actress?”

He looked at me with a “duh, yeah” expression.

“It could have been a run of the mill argument, a flare up that would have played itself out.”

“Could have been.”

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the piece inspired by the word end. If you haven’t done so already, check out the other excerpts at Tuesday Tales.

Cheers & Happy Reading!

Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Spirited Stories

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